Saint Niphon was born around 1435–1440 in the Peloponnese into a pious family. After embracing monasticism in Epidavrion, he withdrew to the Holy Mountain of Athos, where he labored in the monasteries of Koutloumousiou, the Great Lavra, and Dionysiou. After the death of the Metropolitan of Thessalonica in 1483, he was elected shepherd of that diocese, and in 1486 he became Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1488 he was deposed and withdrew to a life of asceticism. In 1497–1498 he again occupied the throne of Constantinople, but soon departed once more. Around the year 1500 he became Metropolitan of Wallachia, where he founded two new dioceses. In 1502 he refused the patriarchate, preferring to remain with his Romanian flock.
In 1505, after a dispute with Voivode Radu the Great, he left his see, foretelling misfortunes for the disobedient ruler. He returned to the Holy Mountain, where he blessed his disciple Makarios for a martyr’s death. Sensing the approach of his end, Saint Niphon gathered the brethren and composed a prayer of absolution. He reposed on August 11, 1508.
The relics of the saint were given to Neagoe Basarab and placed in the Argeș Monastery, then transferred to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Demetrius in Craiova. On August 16, 1517, his solemn glorification took place. Later, the relics were returned to the Dionysiou Monastery, where they remain to this day. As a sign of gratitude, however, the Athonite monks presented the honorable head and right hand of the saint to Neagoe Basarab, who placed them in his Argeș Monastery. They remained there until 1949, when they were transferred to the Metropolitan Cathedral in Craiova, and later, in 2009, to the Cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord in Târgoviște.
